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arXiv · 2606.26249

Using VLTI/GRAVITY+ to determine the identity of a third planet candidate in the PDS 70 system

David Trevascus·Wolfgang Brandner·Olga Balsalobre-Ruza·Sylvestre Lacour·Karim Abd El Dayem·Nicolas Aimar·Anthony Berdeu·Jean-Philppe Berger·Guillaume Bourdarot·Valentin Christiaens·Carlos Correia·Richard Davies·Denis Defrère·Antonia Drescher·Andreas Eckart·Frank Eisenhauer·Maximilian Fabricius·Helmut Feuchtgruber·Simon Flesch·Natascha M. Förster Schreiber·Arianna Foschi·Quentin Fournier·Paulo Garcia·Rebeca Garcia Lopez·Reinhard Genzel·Stefan Gillessen·Iain Hammond·Sebastian F. Hönig·Mathias Houllé·Simran Joharle·Pierre Kervella·Laura Kreidberg·Lucas Labadie·Olivier Lai·Romain Laugier·Jean-Baptiste Le Bouquin·James Leftley·Ruancun Li·Bruno Lopez·Dieter Lutz·Gabriel-Dominique Marleau·Felix Mang·Antoine Mérand·Florentin Millour·Miguel Montargès·Nuno Morujão·Hugo Nowacki·Mathias Nowak·Juan Osorno·Thomas Ott·Sarah Pappert·Thibaut Paumard·Karine Perraut·Guy Perrin·Romain Petrov·Pierre-Olivier Petrucci·Nicolas Pourré·Sebastian Rabien·Diogo C. Ribeiro·Sylvie Robbe-Dubois·Matteo Sadun Bordoni·Joel Sánchez Bermúdez·Daryl Santos·Jonas Sauter·Jules Scigliuto·Jinyi Shangguan·Taro T. Shimizu·Ferréol Soulez·Christian Straubmeier·Eckhard Sturm·Matthias Subroweit·Calvin Sykes·Linda Tacconi·Paloma Thévenet·Irene Urso·Frédéric Vincent·Julien Woillez·the GRAVITY+ Collaboration
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Abstract

Detections of protoplanets are rare and protoplanetary disk features mischaracterized as planets are common. PDS 70 is one of only two stars known to host multiple confirmed protoplanets, PDS 70 b and c, and repeat detections of a third point-like source in the system suggest the presence of third inner planet. However, previous observations of this third source are insufficient to distinguish whether it is a planet or a concentrated dust clump in Keplerian motion. Our observations with VLTI/GRAVITY+ did not re-detect this point-like source, suggesting that it is, in fact, a dust clump and not a planet. These observations demonstrate how the angular resolving power of VLTI/GRAVITY+ can be used to distinguish between protoplanets and protoplanetary disk features.

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David Trevascus, Wolfgang Brandner, Olga Balsalobre-Ruza, Sylvestre Lacour, Karim Abd El Dayem, Nicolas Aimar, Anthony Berdeu, Jean-Philppe Berger, Guillaume Bourdarot, Valentin Christiaens, Carlos Correia, Richard Davies, Denis Defrère, Antonia Drescher, Andreas Eckart, Frank Eisenhauer, Maximilian Fabricius, Helmut Feuchtgruber, Simon Flesch, Natascha M. Förster Schreiber, Arianna Foschi, Quentin Fournier, Paulo Garcia, Rebeca Garcia Lopez, Reinhard Genzel, Stefan Gillessen, Iain Hammond, Sebastian F. Hönig, Mathias Houllé, Simran Joharle, Pierre Kervella, Laura Kreidberg, Lucas Labadie, Olivier Lai, Romain Laugier, Jean-Baptiste Le Bouquin, James Leftley, Ruancun Li, Bruno Lopez, Dieter Lutz, Gabriel-Dominique Marleau, Felix Mang, Antoine Mérand, Florentin Millour, Miguel Montargès, Nuno Morujão, Hugo Nowacki, Mathias Nowak, Juan Osorno, Thomas Ott, Sarah Pappert, Thibaut Paumard, Karine Perraut, Guy Perrin, Romain Petrov, Pierre-Olivier Petrucci, Nicolas Pourré, Sebastian Rabien, Diogo C. Ribeiro, Sylvie Robbe-Dubois, Matteo Sadun Bordoni, Joel Sánchez Bermúdez, Daryl Santos, Jonas Sauter, Jules Scigliuto, Jinyi Shangguan, Taro T. Shimizu, Ferréol Soulez, Christian Straubmeier, Eckhard Sturm, Matthias Subroweit, Calvin Sykes, Linda Tacconi, Paloma Thévenet, Irene Urso, Frédéric Vincent, Julien Woillez, the GRAVITY+ Collaboration. 2026-06-26. Using VLTI/GRAVITY+ to determine the identity of a third planet candidate in the PDS 70 system. https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.26249

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